How Mirka Met a Meteorite

Irrepressible Mirka (Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, rev. 11/10), the eleven-year-old Orthodox Jewish wannabe warrior, is now armed with a magical weapon, but her impulses still overtake her common sense. After tangling once again with the first book’s devious troll, Mirka races to rescue Hereville from a meteor strike. A witch transforms the meteorite into a Mirka-clone named Metty, and the story is off. At first everything’s swell: who wouldn’t want someone to take on half her chores and schoolwork? But Metty turns out to be a bit too good at imitating Mirka, and once she sees the joyful side of being human (e.g., eating yummy food and celebrating Shabbos with a loving family), she’s determined to take Mirka’s place. Deutsch again melds fantasy, realism, and a whopping dose of imagination, incorporating both the particularities of traditional Judaism and the universal foibles of a girl who dreams big but forgets to plan ahead. The graphic novel format serves the quirky story well, with strong inks and a subdued palette that emphasize characters’ personalities and facial expressions as well as the tale’s action. As with Mirka’s first adventure, this volume brings diversity and wit to comics for young teens and tweens, sharing well-deserved shelf space with Raina Telgemeier’s Smile and Drama (rev. 9/12) and Vera Brosgol’s Anya’s Ghost (rev. 7/11). robin brenner